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| Photo Credit: WWE.com |
The Undertaker vs. CM Punk
How: CM Punk won a four-way match to earn the right to end Undertaker's streak.
The Story: CM Punk began his life as a bona fide main eventer, even before his epic WWE Championship reign began, as a fan favorite, a folk hero if you will. He set out to be the voice of the voiceless, but one night on RAW, after everyone else walked out due to poor working conditions brought on by The Awesome Truth, he stayed behind, put on Triple H's jacket (this fewer than two months after they battled in the ring in a gory, brutal match over whether it was Trips who set a trap for him to get laid out at SummerSlam), and he became the very thing he hated. He bullied John Laurinaitis, made fun of AJ Lee for being a LOL CRAZY SLUT, and he used his advantage as WWE Champion to cast aspersions at those who didn't have the chance to get into his spot, the same way he felt John Cena did the same to him.
With this newfound position in the company came an illusion of respect, one that week by week, month by month, Punk found less and less like reality to him. He was WWE Champion, but he headlined a grand total of one pay-per-view event. Everything else had John Cena as the last match going on. It wasn't Punk who was considered the face of the company, it was The Rock, a man who showed up a handful of times a year. This warped Punk to the point where once he realized what his standing in the company was, he snapped. Not only did he lash out against Rock and Cena, but he turned against the fans too, the ones who stood passively by as he was the afterthought to Cena.
After a tumultuous five month run between RAW 1000 and the Royal Rumble, Punk scratched and clawed not only to keep his title, but to gain respect. He eventually failed in the former; The Rock defeated him at the Rumble for the belt and retained it at Elimination Chamber. Cena put a final nail in Punk's golden dream by successfully defending his Rumble win-given title shot at Rocky at Mania in a match on RAW.
It was clear he wouldn't get the latter, as no matter how many times he kept his title, he was told he didn't get respect because he didn't make any "moments." Of course, we all knew this was a lie, as pretty much everything that happened between the original pipe bomb and the point in time when Punk walked out of WWE with the title belt in tow at Money in the Bank '11 was not only memorable in wrestling, but a certified pop culture event. It only mollified Punk's original points, that WWE was an aristocracy and that it shut out the fans. Still, the fans ate it up. So Punk decided that if he couldn't have what he wanted, he'd take away from the fans what they wanted.
The Streak.
Punk set out to take the Streak away from both the fans and yet another embodiment of the establishment that he felt held him down, the Undertaker. After Punk won a four-way match to earn the right, Undertaker's former manager, Paul Bearer, died in real life. At the tail end of the memorial service at the start of RAW, Punk interrupted Taker and verbally berated him. This raised the ire of Kane, who defeated him in the show's main event. However, in the hullabaloo, Punk absconded with Bearer's symbolic urn, the one that Taker drew power from early in his career. Punk mocked Bearer, Taker, and the urn over the next few weeks, continually pushing the envelope until he finally dumped the contents of it on Taker on the most previous episode of RAW.
Analysis: This match has felt polarizing. It seems most of the reactions are either gung ho at the total pro wrestling build of the whole story, how "Memphis" it is, or they're aghast at how Bearer's death is being exploited. Personally, I wasn't too broken up over the fact that they used Bearer's death at all. I was actually bored with how each week, it seemed to be more of the same thing. It was predicated on shock moment after shock moment, and even Punk's promos during the feud were just "Ha, Paul Bearer's dead, you're a stupid jerk, you stupid jerk." Where was the depth? It felt like Punk was going through the motions. I'm still up for the match, but man, it could have been so much better.
As for the match itself, I think it'll be good. Punk is a general, and Taker always seems to know what's expected from him at Mania. It depends on how much time it's given, or how banged up Taker really is. But if all else is equal, this match will become a Mania Classic the way it's meant to be.
Who Should Win: Undertaker should win. CM Punk needs to take time off for injury after this match, and there's no reason why he should win if he's going to be gone for a long time. Plus, 'Taker's last match should happen at Mania next year as long as he can go, and at this point, should Punk even be the guy who ends the Streak? I'm not sure. It definitely shouldn't be with this story. It's been set up for Punk to eat a massive pile of shit, to get his comeuppance in a huge way. I see a story where Punk takes EVERYTHING from Taker, including his Streak, only to get demolished next year, but really, does anyone think WWE is going to have the patience for that story, especially if it's so dicey whether Taker can go next year?
Who Will Win: Undertaker. I repeat, this feud has been telegraphed from the moment Paul Bearer died for him to win. To even pretend otherwise is to ignore a century of pro wrestling history and good storytelling methods.